Changing seasons

Guess what we did tonight!?!
We bought our favorite ice cream - and it wasn't even on sale! Kid you not! lol!
Why?
Because we had reason to celebrate! We finally have an OFFICIAL DOSSIER and are now OFFICIALLY ON THE WAITING LIST!!!!

WOOT! WOOT!!!

Ok, so maybe buying full-priced ice cream from a store isn't the most exciting celebration we could have done, but it sure was a happy moment eating it on our back deck with beautiful 75 degree weather and the sun starting to set (minus the mosquito's buzzing!).

So now begins another new season in our lives - the "Waiting Season". Have a feeling all of the stress of "paperwork season" will feel minor to the upcoming wait, but knowing that we have finally hit this stage of the game is really exciting. I can't help but smile.  :)

We have a couple other changes as well starting these next couple weeks. As of tomorrow, Jon will be wrapping up his job at Luther Park. They are trying to watch their budget so they have cut his position. It wasn't a huge surprise, as many cuts have been done in the last year, but all the same, it is change. I'm trying to convince him to take at least the next couple weeks off to not think about things and not worry about what next, but I know that is hard to do. We are praying something turns up for him sooner than later. We want to stay where we are as of now, so Jon is looking for something completely unrelated to Camping ministry - which makes the search even harder, thus the many thoughts of what next. I truly believe it will all work itself out though, we are just really getting a good patience workout lately!

There is also a new season and change for Caleb! In two weeks he'll start his first adventures with school! I guess I have to kind of take that back, as he will say he has been to summer school already! After labor day he will begin preschool and is extremely excited. He has picked out his backpack - a 3D Minion backpack - the most gaudy thing I've ever seen! But to see him walk around the house for hours on end with it... oh goodness how that makes me smile! He has also bought his very first school folder and notebook, and I had to keep him from buying Everything else in the back-to-school section of the store!

I have been supporting my boys the best I can in their upcoming new seasons. Sometimes this is easy. Sometimes this is not. I am thankful to know I am going back to a job that I truly enjoy this fall (teaching elementary music) and that the adoption things are finally further along. As much as I look forward to the real changing seasons - oh how I love fall! - I know this will be followed by winter, not my favorite month. I know that is kind of the season my husband is in right now. It's a season that you never know how long it will last, and it is a season that can ware you down and make you feel stifled. So while I am in my own upcoming beautiful fall season of good change, I struggle sometimes to understand the drastic seasonal change of my husband's. But God gave us FOUR seasons! I have faith that Jon's Winter will turn to Spring, Summer, or Fall - whichever his favorite may be.  :)

Ecclesiastes 3:1  For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven

Thank you for all the support we have received to get us this far. We have amazing family and friends! The journey is not over, not even close, but it doesn't seem so weary when we have such a solid support system. You are all such a blessing to us. We can't thank you enough for the prayers, prayers, prayers, and of course the monetary support that so many of you have generously given. 

Can I get a Woot! Woot!?!  Feeling happy tonight  :)

In Christ,

Mara